22 Aug 2018
The Magic of Numbers
Do you have a favourite number? Do you have a good memory for numbers, remembering every house number you have lived in, telephone numbers, birth dates and so on? Well, if so – you are in good company, as for centuries many folks believed in the magical powers of numbers.
In Ancient Egypt scribes would explore and assign meanings to numbers, as well as interpreting the relationship between different numbers, they believed that they could invoke their magical properties through sacred shapes and ratios. Over centuries a mystical significance has grown connecting the earth and the cosmic power of numbers.
The Egyptians were not alone in their thinking, Hebrew people devised ‘gematria’ a cipher if you will to decode messages where letters and numbers where intertwined with significance and of course the Greeks created and used Numerology as a form of divination.
So, at its most basic form what are the significant meanings of numbers 0-9?
0 – As you might expect this zero represents a circle, an object with neither a beginning or an end. It can also be a symbol of both space and time – in infinite value.
1 – The number one does tend to have a religious connotation, representing God or the All-Father. But it also means collective mankind, and equally oneself. It is very much about unity, about being all powerful, a creative light – the beginning.
2 – Two is all about opposites, that might be light and dark, night and day, waxing and waning of moons, good/bad energy, mother and father, the equinoxes and so on. These forces are both opposite, but complementary and give way to each other when needed.
3 – This number is known as a ‘trio’ and as ‘trinity’, in religion it could be Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, for Celts – Maiden, Mother and Crone, in family – father, mother and children and in life – creation, fertility and balance.
4 – The most stable of numbers, representing a square, physicality, the vertical line of the horizon, the four arms of spirit and the material world.
5 – Number five is the spiritual number, a fifth element is created when the collective energy is drawn from earth, fire, water and air – that is all powerful. Sometimes the number five signifies the ‘quintessence’ meaning the essence of a thing in its purest and most concentrated form. Of course, five is also associated with the pentagram, a most mystical star.
6 – It is accepted that it took six days to create the earth, and so this number does have religious and divine significance. It is also the number of love and Venus, as well as being associated with the Seal of Solomon. The latter having both religious and Pagan importance symbolising perfection and integration. The six-pointed seal of connected triangles suggests opposites merge and forces complement each other.
7 – Perfection is what number seven represents, and as such it is thought of as the most sacred of numbers. It is combined from Spirit (number 3) and the elements (4). To many it meant eternal life. For others it represents the seventh day, the sabbath – a holy day – a day of rest.
8 – The number eight signifies balance, and yet for many the road to balance will be tricky – full of choices and decisions, think of a person travelling a figure of eight pattern over and over. This navigating a road to wisdom was sometimes referred to as ‘the way of the serpent’. The number is associated with justice, and as such the concept of ‘cause and effect’, and it also represents authority and prosperity.
9 – Nine is an act of repetition, something may have to be carried out or practised nine times by way of initiation to achieve a religious or magical ritual. As such, it represents both completion and perfection. It is of course the final ‘single number’ and in this it acts as a closure, as there can be no new numbers after it – only combinations of other singular digits.
Ref: Encyclopedia of Magic & Ancient Wisdom
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